The Guardians of Time and Space
by Hediru
Summary: The Goddess of Time and Time's Champion were called at the creation of the multiverse to be the Guardians of Time and Space. We know the story of how they met, fell in love, and lost each other. This is the story of their final reunion, but it is not as simple as it may seem. Rose must pay a visit to all of the Doctor's younger incarnations first. Every Doctor x Rose! ON HIATUS :(
1. Prologue - The Legend

**Yes, I know I have another WIP. But I was reading this fantastic story by Girlinpink44 where Rose was the Goddess of Time and the Doctor was Time's Champion, and this plot bunny hopped up to me, grabbed on, and has refused to let go until I write this story!**

 **The idea of the Goddess of Time and Time's Champion belongs to Girlinpink44, and everything else but the plot belongs to the BBC.**

PROLOGUE

When the Great Creator created the multiverse, two elements were devised on which the entirety of creation would depend. First, He developed the concept of time. With this, He also developed the concept of time travel. Most beings in His creation would travel through time in a linear fashion from cause to effect. However, a select race on a select planet would be able to bypass this restriction, and travel any direction in time for the purpose of maintaining order: this race became known as the Time Lords. In order for them to be able to fulfill this obligation, He endowed them with special gifts: they were given great knowledge of time and shorter lifespans so that they wouldnot have to suffer the burdens of time very lon. As a final gift, He gave the Time Lords the same blessing that was bestowed upon all sentient lifeforms: free will.

The second element was space: space was made up of all physical matter in the multiverse. While most beings in His creation were destined to remain in one region of the universe or another, a select race was given the ability to travel the stars and eventually spread out to the furthest regions of Creation with the purpose of maintaining order in all of space. This race became known as Humans. In order for them to be able to fulfill this obligation, He endowed the humans with special gifts: they were given immense creativity and curiousity that would encourage them to travel the stars, and true immortality since they would need plenty of time to in order to spread across the vastness of space. They, too, were given free will.

Unfortunately, both species abused their free will and chose to raise themselves up as gods, refusing to acknowledge the authority of the Creator. The Humans, desiring the knowledge of the Creator, infamously ate from a forbidden tree that promised to give that knowledge. While the indiscretion seemed small at the time, it disrupted the whole cosmos. The knowledge was obtained at a price: their immortality. See, they learned not only what was good but also what was evil, and in knowing evil, they were able to choose it. And many did. And many lost their lives because of it. Now largely focused on fulfilling their personal desires, the mission to care for all of space was abandoned.

Likewise, the Time Lords, in seeking to obtain the power of the Creator, broke a forbidden rock rumoured to hold such power and discovered the Untempered Schism. Again, what seemed at first like a small deviance caused the entire cosmos to be disrupted. The power was obtained at a price. They were now practically immortal as the Schism gave them the ability to regenerate. At first, this was seen as a blessing, but as centuries passed, they recognized the longevity for what it really was: a curse. For to be able to see all of time is one thing, but to have to live it is another. Tired of the pain of time, they built a citadel near the Schism and vowed never to interfere, but only to observe.

Luckily, the Creator in all his omniscience knew that his chosen races would likely fail in their tasks, and He had written into His plans an ultimate safeguard. He searched the timelines of the individuals from both species and selected one representative of each who would be dedicated to what was good, right, and holy in the cosmos. This is how one Time Lord from Gallifrey and one Human woman from Earth would become the Guardians of Time and Space.

They would travel to the beginning of time and to the end as well as every time in between, and through their travels, they would set foot on every planet in the Prime Universe and thus all of space. All the while, they would defend the helpless against those who would destroy that which they were called out to guard. But their story, like all stories, is not just a simple tale. Like you, they were born within the confines of time and space and had to learn and grow and gradually become the people the Creator needed them to be. The journey towards Guardianship is full of twists and turns, up and downs, love and heartbreak, and plenty of running along the way. They would meet, fall in love, and become separated twice before their final reunion and forever. This is the story of the Goddess of Time and Time's Champion.

-DW-

In a small house on the planet Gallifrey, a child was born. On some planets, this was a relatively common event, but on this planet, it was an event that had not taken place for over a billion years. Over time, exposure to the Untempered Schism had rendered the Time Ladies infertile, and as a result children were loomed instead of born. The fact that this child, a boy, was born instead of loomed was because the mother was Human, not Time Lord. Because this pairing was illegal on Gallifrey, the parents hid their son until he was seven years old, the age at which a child was removed from the looms and sent to the Academy. During those early years, the parents called him by a secret name that would be his and his alone. They had high hopes for their child and prayed that the Creator would protect him.

While at the Academy, he went by Theta Sigma, a nickname he chose on his very first day. His best friend was Koschei, and together they made many a teacher retire early. They were BFFs before BFFs were in style, and nothing and no one would be able to separate them. Theta studied hard, and Koschei hardly studied, but both boys managed to pull off the highest grades in the history of the school.

At 19, they graduated from the Academy and prepared for the customary look into the Untempered Schism and the initiation into adulthood. The Schism is said to show you your entire timeline: past, present, and future. The future is forgotten the moment you look away, but what you see there will determine your chosen name. Three reactions have been recorded upon looking into the Schism. Most look inside and are inspired. A few have run away. And one, well one went mad.

Unfortunately for the BFFs, Koschei was the one who went mad. Taking upon himself the name of the Master, he flung himself out into the furthest reaches of time and space, leaving chaos in his wake.

Theta, upon seeing what had become of his best friend, was terrified, and understandably so. So it was with great trepidation that he took his turn in front of the Schism. It may never be known what it was exactly that he saw, but he ran faster and further away from that place than did anyone else before or since! When he was found a few days later, he took upon himself the name of the Doctor. This was not just a name, but a vow: never cruel nor cowardly, never give up and never give in. This was the life of the Doctor.

He failed his TARDIS driving exam, not because he was unable to drive as his future friends would later accuse, but because on his first trip out, he saw a child crying for his mother and he dared to interfere. The child's mother was not far away at all, and the Doctor was proud that he was able to help, so it was a great shock to him to learn that that was why he had failed.

With no TARDIS license, he was planet-bound, and for awhile, he accepted it. He married a Lady who was chosen for him because she was a good genetic match, and donated his genetic material to the looms for the customary son and daughter. He took a job teaching at the Academy, but couldn't help but feel that something was missing from his life.

Meanwhile, his loomed children grew up, married, and loomed children of their own. His daughter's daughter very quickly became the apple of her Grandfather's eye. She had a wanderlust to match the Doctor's, and together they hatched a plan to leave Gallifrey forever. On the eve of her 16th birthday, the Doctor slipped into a repair shop and stole a type-40 TARDIS that was about to be retired. The first place they landed was 1960's Earth. The TARDIS took the shape of a blue police box, the chameleon circuit immediately broke down, and it has been that way ever since.

His granddaughter took the Human name, Susan, enrolled in a London school, attracted her curious teachers, and soon the Doctor had companions traveling the stars with him. Susan fell in love and left, and the teachers also left, to be replaced with others who would come and go.

As the centuries passed, so did his regenerations. His first body, by the time he started traveling at least, was a gentlemanly grandfather. His second was a little younger looking, funnier, and invented a tool known as a sonic screwdriver when he was up late at night and had to install cabinets quickly. That tool would become a favorite of almost all his future incarnations. His third self was older again and sported a cape, and found himself stranded on Earth as the Time Lords did not take too kindly to his TARDIS theft. His fourth self was a little younger with a big hat and even bigger scarf and had an obsession with jelly babies. His fifth self was much younger looking and wore celery on his lapel of all things. But the worst fashion sense belonged to his sixth incarnation who looked like he stole his coat from a colorblind clown. His seventh incarnation's style was questionable at best with even an umbrella shaped like a question mark. Then his eighth incarnation was younger (though not as young looking as his fifth self), attractive, and a hit with the ladies, especially Humans.

By this time, the Doctor had not only acquired quite a few friends across the universe, but quite a few enemies as well. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, and Zygons: these and others made his travels increasingly dangerous. And there in the midst of it all was the Master, his former BFF, now a sworn enemy. It was not an easy life: the wise companions left when the going got tough. The lives of those who stayed were forever changed, and not always for the better; some even died. After awhile, all of this began to weigh heavily on the Time Lord.

But, through it all, at least once in each of his lives, he met a beautiful blonde haired woman. He began to look forward to seeing her again, and found his hearts swelling with joy whenever he saw her. She would appear out of nowhere, accompany him on an adventure or two, and then vanish as suddenly as she had arrived. She never gave him her name, just a title: Bad Wolf. Strangely, he never remembered what she looked like aside from the color of her hair, or what her title was when she was not by his side.

Soon, he heard rumors. Rumors of a war. Rumors of a great war that could threaten all of time and space. Soon, they became more than just rumors: the war was a hard fact. The Daleks had declared war on Gallifrey, and all Time Lords and Ladies were called home to aid in the effort. He avoided going as long as he could. Soon, however, he couldn't avoid it and attempted to rescue the innocent people caught in the crossfire. It was during one of these attempted rescues that he crashed. The woman he was trying to save did not survive the crash. Neither did he.

But he had not just crashed on any planet. It was a monastery for the women dedicated to the worship of the Creator and His Guardians of Time and Space: the Goddess of Time and Time's Champion. They had a prophecy that during a time of great darkness, Time's Champion would crash on their planet. He was destined to be the one to end the war.

They revived him, and he regenerated. Knowing that he would have to fight and likely even kill, he forsake the name of the Doctor and went only by the Warrior. The war raged on. Soon Lord Rassilon, Lord President of Gallifrey, declared that he would end the war with the Final Sanction. He would end the War by destroying time itself.

Which is how the Warrior formerly known as the Doctor found himself in a shed with a box with a red button that if pressed would destroy his home, his people, and his own soul.

But the Moment, as the weapon was called, had a conscience: a conscience that took the form of a blonde woman who called herself the Bad Wolf. Paradox. Zygons. "No, all thirteen!" "Gallifrey stands!" A painting with two titles, or is it just one? "I'm the Doctor again!"

Regeneration.

Forget.

-DW-

Pete and Jackie Tyler lived in a modest house in the suburbs of London with their newborn infant daughter, Rose. Pete was a business man, and Jackie worked in a shop. They were far from a perfect family, but they were happy - mostly. Then, when Rose was just a few months old, tragedy struck. Pete was hit by a car, and died. Witnesses say that a myserious blonde was with him as he breathed his last. No one had ever seen her before or since.

Upon his death, it was learned that Pete's business skills were not as good as he'd thought, and he left behind many debts. Jackie and her daughter were forced to move to a council estate: the Powell Estate.

Still, Rose had a happy childhood, despite losing her father so young. Her mother wasn't able to give her much, but somehow Santa Claus was able to give her a red bicycle when she was 12. Her best friend was Mickey Smith, a black boy who considered her his best mate. She studied hard, got good grades in school, and as she entered her teenage years, grew to be quite a beauty as well. She caught the eye of one Jimmy Stone: the lead singer in a band known as the Dirty Bastards. Enamoured with his attention, they began dating. Then at the age of 16, she dropped out of school and moved in with him, much to her mother's chagrin.

He was a drinker. And when he was drunk, he was abusive. She wanted to leave him, but didn't know how. Then, one night, her nightly beating was interrupted by a knock on the door. Jimmy answered it.

"Hello!" A cheery northern accent ringed out. "Are you Jimmy?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?!"

"You have hurt someone very precious to me, and I'm going to make sure that it never happens again!"

The stranger entered the house and a fight broke out. Rose couldn't tell, but it sounded like the stranger was winning. Quickly gathering up her things, she took advantage of Jimmy's distraction, climbed out the window, and legged it all the way to her Mum's house. She never did find out the identity of her savior.

Life got a little bit better after that. She got a job in a shop, and her best friend, Mickey, became something more. Soon she settled into the rhythm of work, hang out with the boyfriend, talk with Mum, sleep, and repeat. It was not a bad life, just a - boring life.

Then one night when she was 19, everything changed. All of time and space held its breath, and in an instant, the universe became a different place as the future Goddess of Time and Time's Champion finally met. It all changed with one word, just one.

"Run!"


	2. Chapter 1 - The Goddess Arises

CHAPTER 1

"I don't know why we have to do this," Doctor Don Noble complained, tugging on his self-proclaimed tuxedo of doom, despite the fact that the last couple of times he wore it, nothing bad had happened. In fact, one time that he wore it, something absolutely amazing happened: he married the love of his lives, err... life, Rose Marion Tyler. Now he was wearing the tux to commemorate 10 years since that happy time. He had never understood the human expression of time flying when he was a full Time Lord, but as a Human Biological Meta-Crisis, he understood now, completely.

"Oh, stop your grousing, Doctor! You know how Mum loves to throw a good party and how Pete indulges her every whim," his wife chided, straightening his bowtie. She herself looked very lovely in a floor length red evening dress that accentuated her every curve and tastefully exposed her practically flawless skin across her back and shoulders.

"Yeah," he whined. "But it is our anniversary, you know. Shouldn't it be up to us how to decide to celebrate?"

"Doctor," she sighed. "I agree with you completely. But you know how the media is. If we didn't have a big bash, next thing you know, it'd be all across the tabloids that we were getting a divorce or something in the morning." Rose had been the darling of the media ever since her mysterious arrival in the universe almost 15 years ago. The press ate up her cover story like dogs ate up scraps. Pete and Jackie had been dating since they were in high school, and unknown to Pete, Jackie had gotten pregnant and gave the baby up for adoption. Then the Cybermen invaded, and in the aftermath of the event, triggered by how close she had come to dying, told Pete that he had a daughter. Pete had been so angry that he kicked Jackie out of his own home and told the media that she had been taken by the Cybermen, even having an elaborate memorial service for her. But she had come back only a few months later with their grown daughter in tow. Then, a couple of years later, the mysterious daughter who had turned down every romantic suitor who had shown her even the slightest bit of interest, suddenly disappeared. When she returned, she had a man on her arm, and a very good looking one at that. The media had a field day!

The Doctor's cover story was a little bit harder to explain, but still the gullible media adored it. Doctor Don Noble was one of the leading experts in astrophysics whom no one had ever heard of. Before being reunited with her parents, Rose had been his lab assistant, and they had fallen in love. His work caused him to travel a lot, and they were separated for two years. But now he was back, and soon made his intentions regarding the Vitex heiress very clear as only about a month after he was seen with her in public for the first time, Rose Tyler began sporting a simply gorgeous ring on her left hand. The wedding was elaborate and beautiful, and no one in attendance could decide who was happier: the bride or the groom.

Now it was time for their 10 year anniversary bash. The Doctor's singular heart swelled with enough pride and joy to fill two hearts to overflowing as he introduced her as his wife. That same heart still skipped a beat and his breath still caught every time she smiled at him. Never in all of his lives did he realize just what he was missing. Being in love with Rose Tyler had become as essential to him as breathing and made everything that he had gone through to get to this point worth it - even the Last Great Time War.

After the rounds of food and drinks, the wedding photos were soon on display. Rose had made an exceptionally lovely bride, but there was something about the pictures that made his heart catch in his throat. All doting husbands thought their wives as lovely as the day they wed, but the Doctor idly thought that perhaps this was a truer fact for them. For while he was still a very good looking man, his face belied the passage of time. At 916 (or 11 if you go by when this particular him was created, or 44 if you go by what the media thought), he had a few silver hairs here and there, the beginnings of wrinkles were forming around his eyes and mouth, and his freckles were starting to take on the look of age spots. Meanwhile, Rose, at 35, looked as ageless as she had the day they'd wed. In fact, she looked as if she'd barely aged a day since they'd started traveling together when he was all northern and ears and leather. While some people would just liken this to excellent genes (after all, her mother was still a beauty), the Doctor feared that there was something more than this.

When he had first arrived in this universe after his Time Lord self had left them behind, he was unused to his new body's need for sleep. He was also plagued with many dreams. Rose told him that dreams were just the mind's way of dealing with what happens when awake. She encouraged him to write his dreams down in a dream journal so that he could sort out what his mind was attempting to solve.

After the anniversary party, he flipped frantically through the journal, searching for the one dream that he couldn't entirely forget. After he found it and read it, tears were brought to his eyes. He'd have to run tests on her to know for sure, but he strongly suspected he knew what she was.

 _I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the two words and scatter them across time and space to always lead me back to you, My Doctor. I am the Goddess of Time, and you are Time's Champion. You know our story and legend. You have heard it since you were a boy. How a Time Lord, deeply broken, left Gallifrey and believed he would never return. How he met a Human woman and asked her to travel with him. How they fell in love but did not say. How she risked her life to save him and how he gave his life to save her. How in that moment she became the Goddess of Time, but her powers laid dormant for years. How they were separated. How she returned. How he split in two and she went with one but not the other. How one day she will bid a final farewell to the one and return to the other. How they will reign forever as the Goddess of Time and Time's Champion: the Guardians of Time and Space. You know, My Doctor. You know how this is true._

Instinctively, the Doctor knew that this was not just a dream. He tried to dismiss it as such, but at the revelation that his wife did not appear to be aging, his heart was filled with fear that this was all too true. And guilt. How had he not realized this before? He was such a stupid half-alien git! Rose had absorbed the entirety of the Time Vortex for crying out loud! There was no telling how long she had carried the power. With the wave of one hand, she had turned the Daleks to dust. With a wave of the other, she brought Jack back from the dead for him never to be able to stay dead again. And when he took the power from her, he barely held it for a minute, and it forced him to regenerate. It had killed him! How could he even think that she had come through all of that unscathed and unchanged?

But then, he chided himself, he didn't want to think of the alternatives. Rose was alright. She had to be alright, or he wasn't alright. By then, he was so in love with her that he could no longer think rationally about her situation. He needed her to remain unchanged, so unchanged he insisted she was. But, he now learned, nothing could be further from the truth.

"Rose, love. Do you mind if I run a few tests on you?"

Curious, but knowing her husband wouldn't run a test on her if he didn't believe he had to, she complied with his requests without complaint. He didn't have access to the same types of technology as he would have had on the TARDIS, but he had enough to tell him what he needed to know. When the results came in, his chocolate brown orbs looked into hers with love and an apology.

"You're not aging. You're still Bad Wolf. You still have bits of the heart of the TARDIS in your blood, and they've bonded themselves to your DNA. You're the Goddess of Time. You're immortal."

-DW-

As time wore on, the Doctor got older and older, while Rose remained unchanged. At first, Rose began wearing heavy make-up to make herself look older, but after awhile, that grew tiring. The Doctor tried to urge her to just leave him and go back to the original universe and his Time Lord self, but she refused. She had promised him forever, and forever wasn't over yet. Soon, the media were told that Rose Tyler had died tragically in an auto accident. Her daughter, who looked so much like her mother that it was like they were the same person, stood with her aging father at the funeral. Soon, the make-up was piled on again, and soon after that, Marion Noble died suddenly and tragically. The Doctor, now a very old man, leaned on what was presumed to be his granddaughter for support. He tried and tried again to tell her to leave him, and still Rose refused.

Then, one rainy day, a shadow grew over the Tyler mansion. The Doctor laid in bed, his once glorious dark hair now a startling white, the beautiful face that could have won the affections of Madame de Pompadour back in the day was now embedded with wrinkles, his freckled skin pale and almost translucent, his breathing ragged, and his one solitary heart was struggling to keep beating. And his loving wife, the love of all of his lives, his Bad Wolf, his Goddess of Time, his _Rose_ , was tearfully cradling him in her arms and rocking him gently.

"Thank you, Rose," he rasped out. "Thank you for giving me the one adventure I thought I could never have. A street corner and a taxi at 3am."

"Or a basement and running at 7pm," she chuckled softly, knowing to what he was referring.

"Yeah, or that," he smiled back at her, weakly.

"I.. I love you," she sobbed.

"Quite right too. And I suppose, this really is the last chance I get to say it. Rose Tyler..."

The last bit came out barely as a whisper as he struggled to finish his sentence once and for all. "I. Love. You!"

-DW-

 _Dr. Don"The Doctor" James Noble died at home in the arms of his granddaughter at the magnificent age of 114_ (well actually, it was 70 years after he was created, and he was 975 in all actuality). _He was preceded in death by his parents, and his sister, Donna Noble. He was also preceded in death by his beloved wife, Rose Marion Tyler Noble and her family: Peter "Pete" Jackson Tyler, founder of the Vitex Corporation, and his wife, Jacqueline "Jackie" Prentiss Tyler, and their much younger son, Anthony "Tony" Patrick Tyler as well as his family. He was finally preceded in death by his daughter Marion Rose Noble. He is survived by his granddaughter, Rose Tyler Noble, named after her grandmother and several great nieces and nephews and their families._

 _Much of his work was done in secret, and he was a very private man. However, according to his granddaughter who tearfully delivered his liturgy, "Many songs could be sung, and many more words could be written about the life of the Doctor. He was a good man, no a great man. He lived long and loved like no one had ever loved before. His brilliance and quick thinking have saved many lives and most of the lives he saved did not know that they were even in danger. He was a man's man, a hero, albeit a reluctant one. His memory is written across the stars, and he will never be forgotten. He is a Champion in his own right."_

 _No one has seen his granddaughter since his funeral last week. It is as if she has vanished from this universe altogether._


	3. Chapter 2 - A Reunion of Sorts

**So very sorry that its been awhile since I posted. I have great ideas sometimes, and then the muse up and leaves me as things get busy irl. :)**

 **Also, I would like to share that I have a very limited knowledge of the first seven Doctors. I have seen one episode (story, really) each with the 1st and 4th Doctors, and none of the others (unless you count the 7th Doctor appearance in the 1996 movie), so I apologize when the characters are OOC. I would like help in this area. Can anyone recommend key episodes/story sets that are central to each of the Doctors, please, and maybe a good place to watch them online?**

 **The BBC owns Doctor Who. Not me. Sad, I know.**

CHAPTER 2

Rose awoke with a start. How long had she been out? And where was she, anyway? The last thing she remembered was picking up her husband's cremated remains. The instant her hands brushed the urn, she heard a voice whispering inside her head telling her that it was time to go home and silently consented. The next thing she knew, she woke up here.

Here was a park bench in the middle of a city park, and blimey, it was freezing! Had she been out there all night? She must be a sight. She briefly wondered how many people walked by her and thought she was just a homeless bum. She instinctively reached inside her transdimensional pockets and ensured herself that everything was safe: her sonic screwdriver, her psychic paper, a banana, a cannister of tea, a rather large wad of cash, several changes of clothes and other essentials, a couple of blankets, some favorite jewelry that the Doctor had given her over the years, an ipad that the Doctor had done some jiggery pokery on (loaded with books, games, useful scientific apps that the Doctor had created, and photos of friends and family), some pocket lint (every pocket has it, even transdimensional ones!) and most importantly, her husband's urn. She had promised to keep him safe, and what safer place for him was on her person? Some people might find it creepy that she carried it around, but her husband was half-Time Lord, and if the wrong people got a hand on his remains, the entirety of creation could be put in danger.

Satisfied that her belongings were safe, she had a look around. What struck her almost immediately was not a presence of something that was off, but a distinct _absence_ of something: zeppelins! It had been almost three quarters of a century since she had last beheld a sky so blue and so empty of traffic. And it was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. She wasn't completely sure how she had done it, but Rose Tyler had finally found her way back to her original universe!

She wanted to whoop with glee. She was almost home! But then, it hit her. She might be in her proper universe now, but she was still a very long way from home - home being a big blue box that could literally be anywhere in time or space at the moment.

Suddenly, she heard it: the wheezing of a machine that left its parking brakes on. Seconds later, the TARDIS appeared down the street in all her blue box glory. If a sky empty of zeppelins was the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen, she needed to get her eyes examined, for in that moment, nothing could compare to the glorious blue space and time ship! She ran towards the ship with a huge smile on her face, and only one thing on her mind: _I'm home! I'm home! I'm..._

 _...not quite home yet._ She stopped running abruptly when a man she had never seen before in her life emerged from the blue box. He appeared to be in his late thirties to early forties, had long chestnut curls that framed a very handsome face, and he was very elegantly clad in a Victorian era suit, complete with velvet jacket, waistcoat, pocketwatch, top hat, and cravat. Oh, it was most definitely the Doctor. Of this she had no doubt. But he wasn't a version that she knew. So which one was he? Past or future?

He looked up at her, their eyes locked, and he smiled. "So, milady, we meet again!"

Rose released the breath that she didn't even realize she was holding and sighed with relief. _He knows me! He must be a future regeneration, then! I was hoping for the one in pinstripes, but I'll settle for him knowing me. What's with the "milady", though?_ Not really caring about the unusual endearment, she ran to him and embraced him in a tight hug. "Oh, Doctor! I have missed you so much!"

But to her surprise, he didn't hug her back. Rather, he squirmed and tried to extricate himself from her grasp. "Milady? Are you alright? This isn't like you!"

 _Uh-oh. Something isn't right. The Doctor would never call me that._ Her heart sank with the realization. _Maybe he's an earlier incarnation after all._ Aloud, she said simply, "It's just been awhile for me, that's all."

He seemed to buy her deflection. "Well, I am honoured that the Goddess of Time has missed me so much. Though I would be careful with the familiarity you have around me. What would your Champion say?"

 _Oh, my Doctor. If you only knew._ She shrugged. "He knows about us, and seems to be okay with it."

"Oh, so you've finally reunited with him? That's wonderful!" He grinned at her, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she'd say that they rather reflected veiled disappointment.

"Not... exactly." Did she just see hope flash in his eyes? She was suddenly struck with just how blue his eyes were. They reminded her so much of the eyes of her first Doctor that her chest ached.

"What do you mean, not exactly?"

"Well..." she paused for a moment as she considered what to tell him. Sometimes, when the truth cannot be shared, a half-truth would have to do. "I ran into him, recently, but it was a younger version of him. He hadn't met me properly yet."

"That must be disappointing."

"Yeah," was all she could say. She had to change the topic, and fast. Silence fell between them, as they just looked at each other, both at a loss for words.

In the midst of that silence, however, she heard a voice. It was the same soothing voice that she had heard in her head when she received her husband's urn. _You're almost ready, my Wolf. See if you can get my Thief to take you to the Untempered Schism._

 _TARDIS? Is that you?_

 _Yes, my Wolf. It was me who brought you here. Ask him to take you to the Untempered Schism._

"Um... Doctor?" Rose hesitated to break the silence. "I was wondering if you could do a favor for me."

"Anything for the Goddess of Time," he replied.

"Could you please take me to the Untempered Schism?"

His eyebrows shot up at that. "What? Me? Give you a lift? Whatever happened to you being able to..." his voice trailed off as realization hit. "You... can't do that yet, can you? You... haven't fully come into your power."

She wasn't sure about what he was referring to, but she had no special powers that she was aware of, unless you count the whole not-aging and immortal thing. So, she nodded, meekly.

"Oh, I'm daft. I'm a useless, hapless git. You warned me that this was going to happen! You told me that the next time I saw you, it would be much earlier for you, and I forgot. Forgive me, milady. But I guess none of that has happened yet for you. Oh, you have so much to look forward to!"

Rose's heart sank. "Exactly how many times have I visited you in the past?"

"Not many. Once when I was a boy, and once per regeneration thereafter."

Rose gulped. "And which incarnation are you now?"

"Oh, let's see. I believe that this is my..." he counted out the number of regenerations on his fingers. "Eighth life. Yes. I'm number Eight."

 _Eight._ Her face fell, and he saw it. "Oh, don't look like that. It's not all that bad. We have some great times together, I promise."

He sounded hurt, and she didn't like that. Earlier incarnation or not, this man was still her Doctor. She tried to smooth it over. "It's not that I'm not looking forward to meeting earlier versions of you, it's just that I had really hoped to be reunited with my Champion soon, and you've just notified me that I have a long way to go before that happens." She sighed.

He nodded in sympathy. "I know you love him and miss him very much. You've told me so on many occasions. Or will tell me, rather." He chuckled. "Tenses sure are difficult around you!"

She gasped as he extended his hand to her. She half expected him to wiggle his fingers at her like he used to/will do in his Tenth form. Grinning up at him, she took his hand in hers, and together they entered the TARDIS.

"Next stop, the Untempered Schism!" He crowed.

When the doors of the TARDIS opened, Rose gasped. "Doctor, this is the most beautiful planet I've ever seen!" She took in the tall, red grass that was blowing in the wind, the silver trees that sparkled in the light of the two suns, the tall, snowcapped mountains, and off in the distance, a tall spire that emanated from a city of some kind. "Where are we, exactly?"

He turned to her in shock. "You mean, you don't know?"

She shook her head. "Should I?"

He beamed at her. "My dear lady Goddess. Welcome to Gallifrey!"

 _-_ DW-

The Untempered Schism was housed inside a heavily guarded room inside the heavily guarded Time Academy that was located inside the heavily guarded capital city of Arcadia. When the guards saw the Doctor, they didn't allow him to pass, but when they saw who he was with... well, Rose could get used to this! The guards just simply bowed and mumbled something about how it was such an honour to be in her presence, and of course, she and her companion could pass!

Rose chuckled to herself. _The Doctor is_ my _companion now! Oh, just wait until I see a proper him again! I will never let him live this one down, not ever!_ She was surprised that he didn't seem to mind the designation at all. _But of course, he wouldn't! He doesn't yet know that I was his companion first!_ This realization made her sad. She felt oddly homesick. She missed her Doctor, and yet, he was right beside her! It made her head hurt and her heart ache just to think about it.

Finally, they made it to the room where the Untempered Schism was housed. They both looked nervously towards the wall where it was hidden underneath a thick ceremonial cloth. "What is it, exactly?" she whispered, suddenly frightened.

"It's a gap in the fabric of reality," he told her, solemnly. "It is used during Time Lord initiation ceremony when you enter the Academy at eight years old. You can see the entire Time Vortex. "You've already seen the heart of a TARDIS. Well, this is the heart of the Vortex."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Not really. All Time Lords and Ladies have looked into it and lived to tell the tale. It is powerful, though. Looking into the Schism gives us the ability to regenerate, to read timelines, and such. Legend has it that it shows you the make-up of your soul, and the instant you look away, you forget everything that you have seen. However, the reaction is immediate. Most are inspired. A few have run away. And one, well, one went mad."

"Which one was you?" she asked.

He looked embarrassed. Ashamed, even. "I ran," he said, simply.

"And you never stopped, did you?" she teased, trying to lighten the mood.

But he wasn't feeling light. "I guess not," he shrugged. "Look, can we just get this over with? This thing makes me very uncomfortable."

"Sorry," she whispered. Taking a deep breath, she removed the decorative covering. What she saw in that instant chilled her to the bone.

 _I once looked into the TARDIS and the TARDIS looked into me..._ _Now I look into the Schism, and the Schism fears me. I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words..._ _I scatter them, in time and space._ _A message, to lead myself to the Gamestation, and then to lead myself here._ _I want him safe, my Doctor. Protected from his enemies, yes, but also protected from himself._ _Everything is tiny. I can see the whole of time and space, every single atom of existence, and I divide them._ _Everything must come to dust. All things, everything dies._ _But I can control when and how it happens. I_ _bring life. I bring death. I can control it all now. The sun and the moon, the day and night... and they no longer hurt. I can see everything... all that is... all that was... all that ever could be. My host is no longer too fragile to hold me. She is now ready. We now merge as one: Rose Tyler and the Bad Wolf, together, the Goddess of Time._

And as the vision faded, she realized that the words had fallen from her lips unbidden, and she had spoken them out loud.

She ran!


	4. Author's Note

**Hey all, so sorry to do this to you, but I'm temporarily putting this story on hiatus. RL is nuts right now (I'm MOH in my sister's wedding in a month... eek!) and my muse has gone MIA. If you find her, please let me know where she's gone. You all want to know what happens next in this story? Well, so do I! :P Maybe my muse will return after the wedding...**


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